Remote Test-Bench Experiments for Teaching Laboratories Based on LabVIEW, Python and Java

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, universities worldwide had to switch to online or hybrid learning. Associated with this issue was the obstruction in delivering practical experience for engineering students. As students were not receiving access to laboratory facilities, educators were forced to look for various virtual delivery mechanisms while still maintaining student learning outcomes. In electrical engineering, open-source software like Java or Python and licensed software as LabVIEW have a great potential in enhancing any online experience, through the achievement of so-called “virtual instruments”. These virtual instruments can mimic the actual device operation with which they are communicating and can easily be used for remote control, test and monitoring. The present chapter gives an insight of how all these software technologies have been adopted in our faculty to conduct remote test-bench experiments (over the Internet or campus network) during the COVID-19 pandemic, but not only. What is more, such tools can also be used even across the lab, particularly when the available resources are limited or when the automation can improve the productivity and interaction in the lab.